6+ REASONS YOU SHOULD START A YOUTUBE CHANNEL IN 2017

Ever since I started posting videos on my YouTube Channel last summer, I’ve had many people ask me why I’d bother building my name on a whole new platform, as if I didn’t have enough on my plate already. Why would I even attempt to give the over saturated world of YouTube a try when everyone is trying to make it there? My answer is always simple, video is the way forward and market trends have been demanding more video content over the years.

YouTube has over a billion users, almost one-third of all people on the Internet and every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views. The number of channels earning six figures per year on YouTube has gone up by 50% over the past two years.

So why should a blogger or social media influencer consider creating videos on Youtube?

VIDEOS ARE A LITTLE MORE INTIMATE

There’s no denying the power behind personal ‘snapchat‘ or now ‘insta‘ stories. People LOVE watching how other people live, it is unfortunately a fact of life now. Whether they’re watching your stories for inspiration, motivation, information, out of curiosity or for something to talk about, videos create a personal connection and gives a better opportunity for your viewers to get to know you and/or your products better.

ATTRACT A NEW AUDIENCE

There are many people out there who are YouTube devotees and spend most of their time channel-hopping their favourite YouTubers. Many of these people are not interested in reading blogs but are open to watching someone similar to their favourite YouTubers should they appear on their recommended lists. YouTube opens up your audience and allows new people to find you and there are better chances of these people to begin following you on other social media platforms increasing your presence overall. Youtube also allows you to test what content works best with almost instant results. For example, a trending challenge that begins to gain momentum and increased visibility through engagement and being added to playlists has every potential to gain new followers and subscribers. Story time videos always perform well, as do vlogs. If you’re a potential fashion or beauty channel, look books and product reviews can attract a whole new audience because don’t forget, YouTube is owned by the largest search engine in the world, Google.

EXTRA SOURCE OF TRAFFIC

YouTube is the perfect driver for extra traffic to your blog! I personally really admire the way Marie Forleo does this. Every Tuesday she posts and new video on her channel with the text or script typed out in a blog post, for those who prefer to read. She then encourages the conversation to continue on her blog where she also has “tweetable” quotes you can directly link to your personal Twitter accounts. By getting someone to log onto your blog it increases the chances of them to browse further and also sign up to your mail list and/or professional services.

EXTRA SOURCE OF INCOME

Many would argue that Google Adsense pays peanuts and you need to rake in millions of views before making bank. Wrong. You need to consistently be producing videos to appeal to YouTube’s algorithm and for YouTube to increase your visibility. The site has recently changed the way it promotes it’s creators which left many of the YT originals infuriated but they have done this to give smaller channels a chance to reach new audiences on the platform and increase their audience. Gone are the days where YouTube consistently promotes favourites such as Zoella, remember the days when she was in every ad?

Or, you never know… you may go viral and Adsense gives you an epic payday!

Apart from Adsense, there are many other ways to make money on YouTube but in general the website doesn’t “allow” sponsored content until you have 1,000 subscribers which I don’t believe they would monitor like wolves. If you are a smaller channel and a brand does approach you for sponsored content, I believe you should do what is best for your business, just always declare paid or gifted content. Once you have over 5,000 subscribers websites such as FameBit are useful in getting brand deals.

INCREASES CONFIDENCE

If you told me 12 months ago that I’d be walking around Zagreb with my Canon G7x firmly placed on a mini tripod and vlogging around the city I would have called you a dreamer. Although I’ve known for several years now that I had to begin creating videos for my business, my fear got the better of me. Come summer 2016, I forced myself out of my comfort zone and spoke directly to the camera, telling the screen every fine detail about the world around me. Guess what happened? With each video, I gained a little more confidence, a couple of less shits about the world watching around me and started bouncing off the environment I was filming. After several months I became more confident to tell my audience about my struggles, demons and flaws and one day I just told myself that I would apply for a Ted Talk because I had no more excuses left inside of me- all these random people were watching my videos, how could I not do the talk?! Youtube is the perfect way to get noticed for speaking opportunities.

A NEW CREATIVE OUTLET

Videos allow you to get creative and really increase your skill set. If you watch how top YouTubers such as PewDiePie capture their audience’s attention in the first 60 seconds, you’d be left mesmerised at the pulling power behind video content. I personally started to enjoy creating the videos a lot more than I do writing blog posts and meeting my writing deadlines. I started to really enjoy filming, finding royalty free music (Okay, that part is a lie because it’s a pain in the ass) to match my content and creating a visual story.

Starting a channel and uploading to YouTube is free and has every potential to be another great extension for your brand or business. Would you consider starting a channel? If not, what prevents you from doing so? Let me know in the comments section below x